View source for Group Work - Choosing and Selecting Groups

{{Rinfo
|title= Choosing and Selecting Groups
|topic= CPD
|subject= Teacher Education
|resourcenumber=TE0098
|age= Secondary
|content= The resource comprises one 3 page DfES document (drawn from a larger document - see related resources). It is a practical resource highlighting some choices teachers may make regarding grouping, benefits and limitations of various groupings and when each may be effectively used.  This table is used as a tool to reflect on issues and positive outcomes teachers have previously encountered.
|strategy= 
|Learning Objectives= By the end of the document you should have considered some ways to group pupils for {{tag|group work}} and the various benefits and limitations of groupings.  
|additional resources= 
|useful information=
|related resources=See other {{tag|DfE}} resources
|other=
|format=.doc
|resources=[[file:Choosing and Selecting Groups.doc]]
}}
[[Category:Secondary]] [[Category:Teacher Education]][[Category:External Resource]]
{{DfE}}


'''Choosing and selecting groups'''


Choice of groups for group work may be predetermined to a certain extent by any setting of classes that has already taken place. Your grouping of pupils might be based on a number of different criteria linked to the outcomes of the activity in which the groups are engaged. You may consider, at different times, factors such as ability, communication skills, social mix, behaviour, gender, SEN, disability and EAL.


'''Reflection'''


Think about a class where you have used group work. What influenced your selection of pupils?

'''Group composition'''



{| class="prettytable"
| colspan="4" | '''''Task 10 ''Benefits and limitations of different grouping criteria 15 minutes'''


Look at the grid below. It shows a range of different criteria for grouping, with their benefits and limitations. The right-hand column indicates when these criteria may support your teaching.


Highlight the issues you have encountered, and add any extra points from your own experience.

|-
| '''Grouping'''
| '''Benefits'''
| '''Limitations'''
| '''When to use'''

|-
| '''Friendship'''
| Secure and unthreatening
| Prone to consensus
| When sharing and confidence building are priorities

|-
| '''Ability'''
| Work can more easily be pitched at the optimum level of challenge
| Visible in-class setting
| When differentiation can only be achieved by task

|-
| '''Structured mix'''
| Ensures a range of views
| Reproduces the power relations in society
| When diversity is required

|-
| '''Random selection'''
| • Builds up pupils’ experiences of different partners and views


• Accepted by pupils as democratic
| Can get awkward mixes and ‘bad group chemistry’
| • When pupils complain about who is allowed to sit with whom


• When groups have become stale

|-
| '''Single sex'''
| Socially more comfortable for some
| Increases the gender divide
| In contexts where one sex habitually loses out, e.g. competing to control the computer keyboard

|}